on the theme of death in oscar wilde’s fairy tales【畢業(yè)論文】

1、<p><b>　　本科畢業(yè)論文</b></p><p><b>　　（20 屆）</b></p><p>　　On the Theme of Death in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales</p><p>　　所在學(xué)院 </p

2、><p>　　專業(yè)班級(jí) 英語(yǔ) </p><p>　　學(xué)生姓名 學(xué)號(hào) </p><p>　　指導(dǎo)教師 職稱 </p><p>　　完成日期 年 月 </p>&

3、lt;p><b>　　摘　要</b></p><p>　　王爾德創(chuàng)作的童話故事，是其“為藝術(shù)而藝術(shù)”的美學(xué)思想的反映。他的童話被認(rèn)為是“成人童話”，不僅是其唯美主義藝術(shù)主張的一種實(shí)踐，也是他自我真實(shí)的一種展示，是對(duì)傳統(tǒng)倫理與審美的一種挑戰(zhàn)。不同于傳統(tǒng)的童話，王爾德的童話幾乎都以死亡為結(jié)局。關(guān)注于王爾德童話中的死亡主題，并通過(guò)對(duì)其9篇童話的系統(tǒng)分析，本文認(rèn)為，王爾德對(duì)死亡主題的偏愛(ài)，主要

4、源于其對(duì)古希臘傳統(tǒng)悲劇的喜愛(ài)以及對(duì)于基督教的宗教信仰。憑借對(duì)死亡的描述，王爾德既表達(dá)了其唯美主義的獨(dú)特美學(xué)觀點(diǎn)，也表達(dá)了其對(duì)社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)、人類冷漠的不滿與批判和對(duì)美好人性的謳歌與期待。</p><p>　　【關(guān)鍵詞】唯美主義；王爾德； 童話； 死亡主題</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　As a repres

5、entative of British Aestheticism Movement, Oscar Wilde wrote 9 fairy tales according to his aesthetic principle “art for art’s sake.” His fairy tales, which are regarded as tales for adults, act as a practice of his Aest

6、heticism theory, showing his thoughts inside and posing a challenge to the traditional ethics and aesthetic conceptions. Different from traditional fairy tales, almost every tale of Wilde culminates in death. Concentrati

7、ng on the theme of death in Wilde’s fairy tales a</p><p>　　【KEYWORDS】Aestheticism; Oscar Wilde; fairy tales; death</p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　1. Oscar Wilde and A

8、estheticism錯(cuò)誤!未定義書簽。</p><p>　　1.1 The Emergence of Aestheticism: its Social and Cultural Backgrounds錯(cuò)誤!未定義書簽。</p><p>　　1.2 Concepts, Features and Influences of Aestheticism錯(cuò)誤!未定義書簽。</p>

9、<p>　　1.3 Oscar Wilde and Aestheticism錯(cuò)誤!未定義書簽。</p><p>　　2. Death in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales ………………………………...………………….......4</p><p>　　2.1 Brief Introduction of Wilde’s Fairy Tales ……………

10、………………………………..4</p><p>　　2.2 Kinds of Death in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales ………………………….………….…..4</p><p>　　2.2.1 Dying of Suffering and Coldness ………………………….………………...…4</p><p>　　2.2.2 Dy

11、ing of Love…………………………………………………………………..5</p><p>　　2.2.3 Natural Death………………………………………………………….…….….6</p><p>　　2.3 Philosophy in Wilde’s Fairy Tales and Meanings of Death …………………..……….7</p>&

12、lt;p>　　2.3.1 Reflection of Oscar Wilde's Aestheticism………………………………….…...7</p><p>　　2.3.1.1 Language and Fairy Tale Heroes as Aesthetes………………………....7</p><p>　　2.3.1.2 Image Choosing and Bea

13、uty of Tragedy………………..….…….…….8</p><p>　　2.3.2 Death and its Moral Meanings…………………………………………….…....9</p><p>　　2.3.2.1 Criticism of the Coldness of Society and Human Beings……………….9</p><

14、p>　　2.3.2.2 Praise for Kindness of Human Beings ....................................…...........10</p><p>　　3. Origins of Death-motif in Wilde’s Fairy Tales …………………………………...….…...11</p><p>　　

15、3.1 Heritage of Greek Tragedies ………………………………………………………....11</p><p>　　3.2 Religious Heritage …………………………………………………………......…….12</p><p>　　4. Conclusion ………...……………………………………………………………………..13</p>

16、;<p>　　References ……………………………………………………………………………....…..14</p><p>　　Oscar Wilde and Aestheticism</p><p>　　The Emergence of Aestheticism: its Social and Cultural Backgrounds </p><

17、p>　　Aestheticism, a trend of thought in the latter half of 19th century, came into being under the influences of the social economic conditions and cultural backgrounds of its time as other trends of thought in litera

18、ture and art. The entire Europe, especially the Great Britain, experienced an unprecedented capitalistic economy after Industrial Revolution whereas a social upheaval in which a sense of venality left great impacts on co

19、mmon people at the same time. The booming development of industry a</p><p>　　Concepts, Features and Influences of Aestheticism </p><p>　　Originated from the thought of seeking for “pure art” in

20、the poetry of classics in ancient Greece and Rome, and effected by some European artistic genres in modern times, including Kant’s theory about non-utilitarian nature of art, the trend of aestheticism is characterized by

21、 its crafted rhetoric and writing forms. In a sense, literature and art provide a high-quality living space for artists, in which they can escape from the real society and complete their self-construction. In this case,

22、art</p><p>　　Since its most literary concepts are not original but further develop from German classical aesthetics and some of its techniques are derived from French Symbolism and Decadence, aestheticism is

23、 regarded as a transitional trend of thought from romanticism to modernism rather than an independent important genre by some traditional critics. However, its two distinct characters, religious-like worship for art and

24、practice of art in life, have formed rudiment for some modern and even post-modern lit</p><p>　　Oscar Wilde and Aestheticism </p><p>　　Among all the proponents of the Aesthetic Movement, Oscar W

25、ilde, who utilizes his whole life as a practice of his literary concepts, is no doubt the most out-standing one. In spite of those special glories endowed by his legend, Wilde’s unique aesthetic ideas about literature ma

26、ke his works, which are considered as the representative of “the resurgence of lying” (Kiberd 1997:276), especially attractive. </p><p>　　In Oscar Wilde’s opinion, the artists’ imagination and sensitivity pl

27、ay a vital role in aesthetic activities such as writing. For him, “Art never expresses anything but itself. It has an independent life, just as thought has, and develops purely on its own lines” (Wilde 1998:73). He degra

28、des the nature for its simple law and slow change, while artistic creation pursues complicated beauty. Being restricted with natural laws, art would receive negative effects and would be destroyed gradually. Reg</p>

29、;<p>　　Furthermore, Wilde has an extreme favor for the form of an artistic work and regards the innovation of forms as beauty in writing. His words “the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect

30、medium” are emphasis on his pursuit for form of literary works. “That form, which is the birth of passion, is also the death of pain” (Wilde 1998:80), Wilde takes the unity of artistic content and form into serious accou

31、nt, which develops as a most important result of Modernism later.</p><p>　　As the core figure in British Aestheticism Movement, Oscar Wilde is more rebellious than his contemporary artists and is regarded as

32、 typical representative of “dandy” (Li 2008:2) of aestheticism. Although having suffered some mock from the opposition, Wilde insists on showing off his genius and distinctive thoughts to the public through his garish at

33、tire and eloquence. Despite of the reputation he got in literary and art circles of his era, he is an Irish in English society and a homosexual, bei</p><p>　　Wilde’s works contain different literary forms, i

34、ncluding poetry, novel, drama, literary criticism and fairy tales. In his works, he displays special values as well. He thinks “there is no such thing as a moral an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written”

35、(Wilde 1998:73). In Wilde’s eyes, ethical sympathies make no sense for an artist. He tries to construct an art world according to his own literary concepts to obtain a sense of belonging. He cares little about social mor

36、ality but c</p><p>　　Death in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales</p><p>　　Brief Introduction of Wilde’s Fairy Tales </p><p>　　During his life, Oscar Wilde has published two fairy tale collec

37、tions, The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888, containing five fairy tales which are The Happy Prince, The Devoted Friend, The Selfish Giant, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Remarkable Rocket and A House of Pomegrana

38、tes in 1891, including four fairy tales which are The Birthday of the Infanta, The Star-Child, The Young King and The Fisherman and His Soul. </p><p>　　It is hard to imagine that a writer who believed that h

39、is “first duty in life” was to be “as artificial as possible” would have turned to the genre of the fairy tale (Tatar 1999:246). Nevertheless, Wilde has never been known for his consistency. In a note to his friend, Wild

40、e insisted that his tales were “an attempt to mirror modern life in a form remote from reality.” Different with common fairy tales in which writers make an effort to capture purity, simplicity and innocent extravagance

41、to pr</p><p>　　Although Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales don’t gain as much reputation or concern as his other works, they clearly reflect Wilde’s literary concepts and aesthetic view point as well. Following some

42、traditions of Victorian fairy tales, Wilde expresses his own ideas by subverting some others. In his words, his fairy tales are “slight and fanciful, and written, not for children, but for childlike people from eighteen

43、to eighty” (Wilde 1998:247).</p><p>　　Kinds of Death in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales </p><p>　　Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales have an obvious feature that almost every story culminates in death. Having

44、read his nine fairy tales, all the death of characters in stories can be categorized into three main kinds. </p><p>　　Dying of Suffering and Coldness </p><p>　　Worlds in Wilde’s fairy tales are

45、not wonderlands at all, but as cruel and hard as the reality. In the story of The Happy Prince, the Happy Prince used to live in the Palace of Sans – Souci when he was alive and had a human heart. There, “sorrow is not a

46、llowed to enter” (Wilde 2009:82). Until he died and was set up as a high statue in the city, the Happy Prince “was covered all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red rub

47、y glowed on his sword hilt</p><p>　　And in The Young King, the young King had three dreams, in which he witnessed some cruel situations of death: an Arab was shot by a master of ship and “fell heavily into t

48、he surf”; a negro went to the deep sea to seek for pearl over and over until “the blood gushed from his ears and nostrils” (Wilde 2009:141); Death called Ague, Fever and Plague, killing thousands of people to get a grain

49、 of corn from Greed. </p><p>　　In the tale of The Birthday of the Infanta, the little dwarf had a carefree life without awareness of his grotesque appearance. He regarded others’ mock towards him as kindnes

50、s out of his optimistic attitude and innocence. Having received a white rose thrown from the pretty Princess, the little dwarf fell into ecstacy and tried to find the Princess to tell his love for her. Accidentally, he s

51、aw himself in a mirror and finally realized that he is a “perfect horror” in people’s eyes including the </p><p>　　Dying of Love </p><p>　　When people in the world are indifferent to others’ emo

52、tions, those who pursue true love are bound to face failures. In Wilde’s fairy tales, some protagonists are created as heroes seeking for love bravely. Unfortunately, their love becomes meaningless sacrifice in ruthless

53、reality. </p><p>　　The Nightingale in the tale of The Nightingale and the Rose sang a whole night with its breast pressed against the thorn of a rosebush, hoping to make a red rose of incomparable beauty for

54、 a lovelorn young student. Wilde describes this mortal agony of death in a subtle way:</p><p>　　The nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain sh

55、ot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb (Wilde 2009:96).</p><p>　　The Nigh

56、tingale thought “Death is a great price to pay for a red rose” “yet Love is better than Life” (Wilde 2009:95). Ironically, the red rose stained with her heart blood was thrown into the street by the student and at last f

57、ell into the gutter after being rejected by the girl because it costed far less than jewels. </p><p>　　In The Fisherman and His Soul, the young Fisherman cut away his soul to gain the

58、little Mermaid’s love. Leaving the Fisherman, his soul wandered around the world and seduced the Fisherman by wisdom and treasure. The soul failed twice since the Fisherman insisted that “Love is better” than wisdom and

59、treasure. In the third year, when the soul described a girl with naked feet, “moved over the carpet like little white pigeons”, the young Fisherman “remembered that the little Mermaid had no feet and</p><p>

60、　　Natural Death</p><p>　　Compared with the characters above, deaths of the Giant and the Star-Child seemed not so tragic but were in a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. </p><p>　　The Giant in T

61、he Selfish Giant used to be very selfish. He built a high wall all round his garden and put a notice board to stop the children entering it. Without children, “the birds did not care to sing in it” and “the trees forgot

62、to blossom.” Gradually, the spring never came to the Giant’s garden, until the children came to the garden again. The Giant’s heart melted finally when he saw children playing happily in his garden. He abandoned his self

63、ishness and helped a little boy climb up into </p><p>　　The same as the Giant, the Star-Child has also experienced a change during his life, from a cruel boy to a benevolent king. The Star-Child was a pretty

64、 but merciless boy adopted by two poor Woodcutters. “His beauty works him evil” (Wilde 2009:120), he looked down upon other people, even threw stones at and mocked his biological mother, a woman looked like a beggar. His

65、 pride and relentlessness destroyed his beauty, making him as ugly as adder and toad. Having gone through a series of bitter test</p><p>　　Philosophy in Wilde’s Fairy Tales and Meanings of Death</p>&

66、lt;p>　　Reflection of Oscar Wilde's Aestheticism</p><p>　　Because Wilde’s fairy tales bear the mark of his aesthetic thought and are an outgrown of his aesthetic article views, they are linked to his l

67、iterary concepts, especially his aesthetic philosophy. Wilde’s aesthetic concepts represent at three main aspects in his fairy tales: fancy and delicate language; molding fairy tale heroes as aesthetes; describing unique

68、 images to create aesthetic atmosphere.</p><p>　　2.3.1.1 Language and Fairy Tale Heroes as Aesthetes</p><p>　　Wilde’s rhetoric language is an evidence for his literary proposition “art for art’s

69、 sake”, proving his emphasis on writing forms. Ba Jin spoke highly of Oscar Wilde’s language when he translated his fairy tales; he admitted that “I find it’s so hard to translate his fair and complete form perfectly, no

70、t to mention his rhythmic and musical words and sentences. Wilde has acquired such an abundant flowery diction, by contrast, my vocabulary is so poor and my diction is so rough” (Preface: 2007:4).</p><p>　　W

71、ith his fabulous writing skills, Oscar Wilde creates some aesthetic objects as fairy tale heroes. Among them, the Happy Prince is a typical example. Standing high above city “covered all over with leaves of fine gold”, w

72、ith sapphires as his bright eyes and “red ruby glowed on his sword hilt”, he was “as beautiful as a weathercock” from the appearance (Wilde 2009:50). Moreover, the Happy Prince owned a heart as beautiful as his appearanc

73、e. He could see “all the ugliness and all the misery” of th</p><p>　　The statue was melted, while it was accepted by the God as a most precious thing, entering the garden of Paradise with the little Swallow’

74、s dead body. The Happy Prince sacrificial suffering became spiritual release, escaping from the real society into an eternal world. </p><p>　　2.3.1.2 Image Choosing and Beauty of Tragedy</p><p&g

75、t;　　On choosing images, Wilde reveals his being influenced by Victorian literature through utilizing some characteristically Victorian principles, while shows his ideas through subverting some others. </p><p&g

76、t;　　According to John Reed in Victorian Conventions, the Victorians “believed in the value of human suffering” (Sillinglaw 2006:135). As Victorian readers were attracted to pathos, Wilde also deems that pleasure can deri

77、ve from suffering. Nearly every hero in Wilde’s fairy tales has experienced suffering physically or psychologically. Though Wilde is not unique in showing his fairy tale heroes suffering, “the intensity of the suffering

78、of his heroes, the focus upon their suffering, and the self-caus</p><p>　　Wilde has a particularly preference for the quintessential Victorian symbol for sentiment: the heart, especially the broken heart. It

79、 is the bleeding or wounded broken heart that especially attracts Wilde. In The Birthday of the Infanta, Wilde describes a grotesque image as the opening of the tale. In the description of the nice day for Princess’s bir

80、thday, different kinds of flowers blossomed, purple butterflies fluttered and “the pomegranates split and cracked with the heat, and showed their b</p><p>　　In his fairy tales, the Happy Prince’s “l(fā)eaden hea

81、rt had broken right in two” (Wilde 2009:88), the little dwarf’s “heart is broken” after giving “a curious gasp” (Wilde 2009:56), and the young Fisherman’s heart did break “through the fullness of his love” (Wilde 2009:35

82、). The suffering of heroes leads to a broken heart, enveloping a tragic atmosphere around Wilde’s nine fairy tales. Death, which presents as a transient tragic form, is not scary in his tales. On the contrary, it makes g

83、reat contr</p><p>　　Death and its Moral Meanings</p><p>　　From Oscar Wilde’s literary criticism or theory, it seems that he is a pure aesthete believing in “art for art’s sake”. Paying much atte

84、ntion to writers’ creation and imagination, he disapproves simply imitating lives to write. Wilde insists that morality should not be taken into consideration by any writer since books cannot be judged by moral or immora

85、l but only are “well written or badly written.” In his eyes, ethical sympathies made no sense for an artist, “Vice and virtue are to the artist </p><p>　　2.3.2.1 Criticism of the Coldness of Society and Huma

86、n Beings</p><p>　　On the one hand, Oscar Wilde expresses his dissatisfaction and disappointment towards coldness of the society and selfishness of human beings. As the first story of his tale collections, Th

87、e Happy Prince set a bitter and sad tone for all the fairy tales. The Happy Prince stood high above the city, witnessing all the unfair and ugly things happened to the citizens in his country: a dressmaker was busy with

88、working but still too poor to feed some food for her sick son; a young man was trying to fi</p><p>　　And the Prince in The Birthday of the Infanta heard that the little dwarf’s heart was broken, she “frowned

89、, and her dainty rose- leaf lips curled in pretty disdain” (Wilde 2009:56). It’s so hard to imagine that under such an angel face lived an evil soul. Another good example exposing human’s ruthlessness is the ironic contr

90、adiction between the Nightingale’s sacrifice with the young student’s superficiality and selfishness. Conceivably, even not all the cruel plots happened in the real society, </p><p>　　2.3.2.2 Praise for Kind

91、ness of Human Beings</p><p>　　Fortunately, Wilde is not a radical towards the society, on the other hand, he writes eulogies for kindness and benevolence of people. For instance, after seeing common people’s

92、 suffering in his dreams, the Young King realized his ignorance and abandoned his greed. Wilde describes the Young King’s new image in a sacred and hopeful tone, “he stood there in a king’s raiment, and the Glory of God

93、filled the place, and the saints in their carven niches seemed to move” (Wilde 2009:147). And the Happy</p><p>　　A lot of writers make an effort to capture purity, simplicity and innocent extravagance of lit

94、erary fairy tales to praise the fairy tales as powerful instruments of constructive socialization. While Wilde chooses a unique way to write his special tales for child-like adults, embedding in his fairy tales both shar

95、p critiques of dark side of human being and sincere praise for goodness in humanity.</p><p>　　Origins of Death-motif in Wilde’s Fairy Tales </p><p>　　Heritage of Greek Tragedies </p><

96、p>　　Oscar Wilde is fascinated by Greek culture and classics. At the age of seventeen, he went to Trinity College of Dublin to study for three years. There he met his history teacher Reverend John Mahaffy, a man who ha

97、d lived in Greece and was greatly interested in Greek culture. Wilde was profoundly influenced by his knowledge and ways of thinking. With the seed of aestheticism of Greek culture planted by Reverend Mahaffy, Wilde went

98、 to Oxford for his further study, where he gradually became a follo</p><p>　　Oscar’s favor for Greek culture is clearly shown in some description of his fairy tales. Take The Young King as an example, a mayo

99、r had caught a sight of the Young King “kneeling in real worship before a great picture that had just been brought from Venice, and that seemed to announce the approach of the worship of some new gods,” and “on another o